


Chrysalis

by Anonymous



Category: Captain Marvel (2019)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Post-Canon, F/F, background Monica Rambeau/OMC, parenting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-01
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-13 04:14:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29770506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Carol and Maria have a night in while Monica has a night out.
Relationships: Carol Danvers/Maria Rambeau, Maria Rambeau & Monica Rambeau
Comments: 4
Kudos: 38
Collections: Anonymous Fics, Black Is Beautiful 2021





	Chrysalis

**Author's Note:**

  * For [webofdreams89](https://archiveofourown.org/users/webofdreams89/gifts).



Monica has a crush. Not for the first time — she’s always been a passionate kid — but the difference between first grade and freshman year means that this boy she’s been talking about since the school year started is now showing up at their doorstep with sweaty palms and wide, dark eyes. His car is parked in their driveway. It barely looks street legal.

Between the aliens and superpowers and Y2K, Maria had thought she’d been doing a halfway decent job adjusting to what the future could hold, all while being a present partner and mother, but this—god. A boy. Maria couldn’t even be mad about it, not rationally. Leon seems like a nice boy, shyer than Monica. They’d met at computer club. He’s wearing a button-down, even though they’re only going to the movies. Even being in the same room as Carol has him shaking.

Carol is subtle about it, as much as she can be. Which isn’t terribly, but there are no outward threats. However she may be standing, biceps flexing, glowering, the only thing that comes out her mouth is, “So what are you kids planning on seeing?”

“Toy Story 2,” Monica cuts in. Maria barely holds in a disbelieving snort. At most, that’ll be on the tickets they buy before sneaking into some R-rated slasher. It’s all so transparent that it’d make Maria laugh if it wasn’t  _ her baby. _

“Sounds like a lot of fun for you kids,” Maria says before she loses her nerve, opening the door for Leon and Monica to make their departure under vague threats about what would happen if they were not to return by nine.

Fifteen. What had Maria been like at that age? A lot like Monica, honestly, except she’d never bothered bringing anyone to her parents’ front door. The trust is good. Giving her space to become her own woman is good. But that doesn’t make it easy.

Before, there was some talk about a proper date night of their own, but it’s increasingly looking like a pizza-and-pajamas night instead. It’s nice. Comfortable. There’s never been too many people Maria or Carol could let their guards down around, but it’s even more true now. Makes being able to trust each other even sweeter.

They’re halfway through a Law & Order episode when Maria asks suddenly, “Do you remember your first?” and then, after a side eye from Carol. “Not like that. Do not make me think like that. Just… the first person you dated. Felt something romantic for. Whatever.”

Carol puts her head back to think. A lot of her memories have fit into place by now, but a lot haven’t, either, and sometimes it’s impossible to know until someone brings up that time back in the academy or asks what Chinese food she wants. It’s nothing, compared to the years Maria spent thinking Carol was gone completely, but sometimes—on the good days, it felt like getting to rediscover each other again. Other times, it just feels lonely.

Eventually, Carol says, “I went to junior prom with a boy named Jason, but my best friend and I were both pissed at each other the whole night. Jealous.”

She smirks as she says it, and Maria is taken back to their first few months sniffing each other out, butting heads until they realized aiming a bit lower and a little softer worked out better. Before Carol, there’d been flickers—a girl from her high school basketball team, in the weeks before she disappeared into an east coast college—and flames—Monica’s father—leaving their own marks. With first love comes first heartbreak, the first changes for real adult fuckups.

Maria forces herself to exhale and refocus on the TV, the feeling of Carol pressed up against her side, under her arm. She lets herself remember that the house is empty. Fingers trail down strong arms. Carol’s head turns, and her lips land on Maria’s pulse.

A moment later and Maria has Carol in her lap, hands grasping hips, steadying on shoulders. It feels like a wildflower, just sitting here making out on on their dingy little couch.

* * *

A car pulls into the driveway at 8:51, and the front door opens at 8:57. Monica looks the same as she did beforehand—jacket still over her shoulders, hair pulled back, annoyed by the careful gaze of her mother.

“Hi, sweetie,” Maria says, ignore the grimace, “There’s some leftover pizza if you’re still hungry.”

“... alright.”

Maria is more than half expecting Monica to disappear upstairs with a lukewarm slice without another word, but instead she takes the time to microwave them before collapsing in the armchair beside Maria. She sits up straight, at the edge of the cushion. Eventually, Maria asks, as casually as she can, “So how was the movie?”

Monica scrunches her nose. “Good, I guess. Leon was, like, way more awkward than he is in school. Which is already kind of a lot.”

Maria laughs, and it’s a genuine sound. “So I’m guessing you didn’t have fun?”

If the blush could show on Monica’s cheeks, Maria’s fairly sure it would at the question. “No, I did, it’s just—I don’t know, I guess I was awkward, too. Usually I can just, like, tell a joke and things will be chill again, but things never got chill except for when the movie was playing and we didn’t have to talk anymore.”

“First dates can make people nervous,” Maria says. It feels cliche to say, but a lot about parenting has felt cliche, or like a bandaid. But there’s no easy way for Monica to figure these things out. Sometimes the true but cliche things are all there is to say, and hope she’ll keep coming back for them. “Doesn’t mean it doesn’t get easier, or that dating will be bad. Or, you know, if you don’t think you actually want to be more than friends, that’s fine, too.”

“Yeah, I do know, Mom, thanks,” Monica replies, sounding more than a little sarcastic, but a few minutes later, she’s settling back into her seat, and Carol gives a supportive squeeze to Maria’s hand.


End file.
